S M E 



S M E 



SMARAGDUS Mons, in vincient Geography, a moun- 

 tain of Egypt, on the coalt of the Arabic gulf, between 

 Nechefia and Lepte Extrema, according to Ptolemy. 



SMARIS, in Ichthyology, the name of a fmall fifh caught 

 in the Mediterranean, and common in the markets of Rome, 

 Venice, and elfewhere, and fold to the poorer fort of people 

 at a very fmall price. This, in the Linnsean fyftem, is a 

 fpecies of the fparus ; which fee. 



It is feldom of more than a finger's length, and of a round, 

 not flattened body, of a dnflvy blackifh-green on the back 

 and fides, and not marked with any variegations, but having 

 on each fide, near the middle of the body, one large black 

 fpot ; its gill-fins and tail are of a faint red ; the iris of the 

 eyes is of a browni(h-white, and the tail is forked. 



SMART, Peter, in Biography, a native of Warwick- 

 fhire, was educated at Weltminfter fchool, from whence he 

 removed to Oxford, and became a ftudent of Chriilchurch. 

 After entering orders, he obtained a prebend in Durham 

 cathedral, where he diftinguifhed himfelf by his oppofitiou 

 to the ceremonies in religion, and the removal of the altar 

 from the middle of the choir to the eaft end of the church. 

 He preached and printed fome fermons on the vanity and 

 downfall of fuperilition ard popifh ceremonies, for which 

 he was degraded from the mmillry, and imprifoned. He 

 died in 1642. He was likewife author of poems, Latin and 

 Englilh 



Smart, Christopher, a confiderable poet, born in 

 April, 1722, at Shipbourne, in Kent, was educated at 

 Maidftone and Durham fchools, and at the age of feventeen 

 he was entered at Pembroke Hall, Cambridij-e. By the 

 death of his father hi» affairs were cmbarraffed, but his 

 fpirits were not weighed down by family misfortunes, and 

 while he was the companioH of the gay, he cultivated the 

 Mufes, and obtained great credit and feveral academic prizes 

 for his college exercifts. His talents, however, were not 

 adapted to augment the means of fubfiftence, and at length 

 his diltrelles were fo great as to produce a derangement of 

 his mental faculties. He died in 1771, leaving behind him 

 a widow and two daughters, who fettled as bookfellers at 

 Reading. His works confift of fables, fonnets, odes, prize- 

 poems, &c. printed at Reading, in 2 vols. i2mo. 1 79 1. He 

 publifhed a profe tranflation of the works of Horace, and 

 tranflations in verfe of the Pfalms, and of the fables of Phs- 

 drus. As a poet, he poflefTed a large Ihare of originality ; 

 was fometimes very pathetic ; and, according to his biogra- 

 pher, he fometimes reached the true fublime. 



StiART-lVecd, in Agr'uullure, a term applied to the biting 

 or pale-flowered perficaria, or arfmart, which is a troublc- 

 fome weed in arable land. 



SMATCH, in Ornithology, a name by which the com- 

 mon oenanthe is called in many parts of England. 



SMEAR-DAB, in Ichthyology, \s a name given to a fpe- 

 cies of dab amDng the filfimongers of London, which is of 

 equal goodnefs with the common dab. 



SMEATON, Mark, in Biography, a mufician in the 

 fervice of Anna Bullen, and groom of her chamber, whom 

 Henry VIH. in a fit of jealoufy, or pretended jealoufy, 

 accufed of familiarity with his queen. The mufician, in 

 the vain hope of Hfe, was prevailed on to confefs a criminal 

 correfpondeiice with his royal mittrefs ; " but even this 

 unfortunate queen's enemies expected little advantage from 

 this cnnfeffion, for they never dared confront him with her." 

 Hume's Hift. Hen. VIH. chap. v. 



" The queen faid, he was never in her chamber, but when 

 the iing was lalt at Winchefter ; and then he came in to 

 play on the virginah. She faid, that fhe never fpoke to 

 him after that, but on Saturday before May day, when fhe 



faw him ftanding in the window, and then ftie aficed htm, 

 why he was fo fad ? he faid, it was no matter : fhe anfwered, 

 you may not look to have me fpeak to you, as if you were 

 a nobleman, fince you are an inferior perfon. No, no, 

 madam, laid he, a look fufficeth me." Burnet's Hiit. of 

 the Reform, vol. i. book iii. p. 199. 



Smeaton, John, an eminent civil engineer, was born on 

 the z8th of May, 1724, at Aullhorpe, near Leeds. The 

 Itrength of his underftanding, and the originality of his 

 genius, appeared at an early age ; his playthings were not 

 the playthings of children, but the tools which men employ ; 

 and when he was a mere -child, he appeared to take greater 

 pleafure in feeing the operations of workmen, and afking 

 them queftions, than in any thing elfe. Before he was 

 fix years old, he was once difcovered at the top of his father's 

 barn, fixing up what he called a wind-m.ill of his own con- 

 flruftion ; and at another time, while he was about the fame 

 age, he attended fome men fixing a pump, and obferving them 

 cut off a piece of the bored part, he procured it, and ac- 

 tually made a pump, with which he ra'.fed water. When 

 he was under fifteen years of age, he made an engine for 

 turning, and worked feveral things in ivory and wood, 

 which he prefented to his friends. He made all his own 

 tools for working in wood and metals, and he conitrufted a 

 lathe, by which he cut a perpetual fcrew in brafs, a thing 

 but little known, and which was the invention of Mr, 

 Henry Hindley of York, with whom Mr. Smeaton became 

 acquainted, and indeed extremely intimate. Mr. Smjcaton, 

 by the time that he was eighteen years of age, acquired, 

 by the ilrength of his genius and indefatigable induftry, an 

 extenfive fet of tools, and the art of working in molt me- 

 chanical trades, without the affiftance of a mailer. A part 

 of every day was ufually occupied in forming fome inge- 

 nious piece of mechanifm. His father was an attori-cv, 

 and being defirous to bring up his fon to the fame profeffion, 

 he brought him up to London with him in 1742, and at- 

 tended the courts in Weltminfter-Hall ; but after fome time, 

 finding that the law was not fuited to his difpofition, he 

 wrote a ftrong memorial to his father on the fubject, who 

 immediately defired the young man to follow the bent of 

 his inchnation. In 1751 he began a courfe of experiments 

 to try a machine of his own invention to meafure a fhip's 

 way at fea, and alfo made two voyages, in company with 

 Dr, Knight, to try the effeflof it, and alfo for the purpofe 

 of making experiments on a compafs of hij own conllruction, 

 which was rendered magnetical by Dr. Knight's artificial 

 magnets. In 1753 he was elefted a fellow of the Royal 

 Society ; and the number of papers which he publifhed in 

 their Tranfaclions, will fhew how highly he deferved the 

 honour of being enrolled a member of that ufeful and im- 

 portant body. In 1759 he received from the council of 

 the Royal Society, by an unanimous vote, their gold medal 

 for his paper, entitled " An experimental Inquiry concern- 

 ing the natural Powers of Water and Wind to turn Mills 

 and other Machines, depending on a circular Motion." 

 The paper was the refult of experiments made on working 

 models in the years 1752 and 1753, though not commu- 

 nicated to the fociety till 1759 ; and in the interval he had 

 opportunities of carrying into effeft feveral of his inventions 

 and theories, which rendered his paper of much more real 

 value to the fociety and the public at large. In 175 J, the 

 Eddystoxe Light-houfe was burnt down (^fce the article), 

 and Mr. Smeaton being recommended to the proprietors 

 of that building as an engineer in every way calculated to 

 rebuild it, he undertook the work, which was completed in 

 1759, much to the fatisfadion of the parties concerned. 

 Still he was not fully employed as a civil engineer, for in the 



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